10 labourers die as water tank collapses
Gurgaon, September 5
Ten construction labourers died last night when a water tank meant for their use collapsed in Baas Haria village in Sector 8 of the IMT, Manesar, near here. Seven labourers were injured and are under treatment at government and private hospitals. Their condition is said to be out of danger.

Entertainment tax exemption rules changed for forces
Chandigarh, September 5
Defence personnel posted in Haryana now have some reason to cheer. In a resumed hearing in a suit filed by an Army officer against the Haryana government’s policy of granting entertainment tax exemption only to those defence personnel who watch a movie in full military uniform, the state government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court today that it had decided to remove the uniform stipulation from the rules.

A Tribune Exclusive
Tata in touch with Hooda
Chandigarh, September 5
West Bengal’s loss may be Haryana’s gain. The Tatas are in touch with the Haryana government at the highest level following Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s statement in the Vidhan Sabha on September 3 that if the automobile giant wanted to relocate their Nano plant in the state, the state government would welcome them.

Undertrial stabbed on court premises
Jind, September 5
An undertrial, accused of attempt to murder, was allegedly stabbed by the complainant on the court premises this morning. The assailant has been arrested. The undertrial suffered injuries on his back and hand, and has been shifted to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

Class I status for college lecturers66 teachers honoured
Chandigarh, September 5
Haryana college lecturers getting the pay scale of Rs 10,000 and above will get Class I status and outstanding college lecturers will be honoured with the State Teacher’s Award from next year.

Dengue onslaught continuesDC warns people of legal action
Gurgaon, September 5
An unabated onslaught of dengue has made Gurgaon the worst affected district in the national capital region (NCR), as the positive cases here increased to 374.

Retired Col’s daughter-in-law, 2 others held
Had allegedly offered supari to kill in-laws
Gurgaon, September 5
The police today arrested the daughter-in-law of a retired Colonel, her brother and mother on a charge of hatching a plan for supari killing of her in-laws.

Man kills wife, held
Sirsa, September 5
A woman was beheaded allegedly by her husband in Nejia village in this district in the early hours today.
The police has arrested the husband and recovered the sword used in the crime.

Gurgaon, September 5
Ten construction labourers died last night when a water tank meant for their use collapsed in Baas Haria village in Sector 8 of the IMT, Manesar, near here. Seven labourers were injured and are under treatment at government and private hospitals. Their condition is said to be out of danger.

The mishap occurred when the water tank of 5,000 litre capacity, allegedly constructed with spurious material, collapsed while the labourers were bathing under it after finishing their day’s work. Five of them died on the spot while five others succumbed to injuries at the civil hospital. The police has registered a case against project manager Saleram Dev and the contractor concerned of Era Infra Engineering Limited.

The district administration has asked the company to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the bereaved families. This is the maximum compensation announced so far for labourers’ deaths in the district.

Deputy commissioner Deepti Umashankar, who visited the hospital this morning, announced free treatment for the all injured. The administration also offered to bear the expenses of taking the bodies to the native places for cremation if their families desired so.

The deceased have been identified as Ranjeet Rai, Mohammad Kalam, Mohammad Akhtar, Bigun, Kania, Ramesh Rai from Bihar and Mithun Saran, Palka, Shyam Lal and Bhatu from West Bengal.

Labour minister A.C. Choudhary also visited the spot and consoled the bereaved families. He said safety measures for labourers were not strictly adhered to and the state government would fix certain parameters for both builders and labourers for the purpose.

Chandigarh, September 5
Defence personnel posted in Haryana now have some reason to cheer. In a resumed hearing in a suit filed by an Army officer against the Haryana government’s policy of granting entertainment tax exemption only to those defence personnel who watch a movie in full military uniform, the state government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court today that it had decided to remove the uniform stipulation from the rules.

Haryana, like most other states, offers entertainment tax exemption to defence personnel in all theatres, cinemas and multiplexes. Defence personnel hence only have to pay for the admission without the entertainment tax, thereby resulting in a discount of about 30 per cent on all movie tickets.

The rules, however, stipulated that in order to avail themselves of such exemption, defence personnel had to produce their identity cards and deposit a prescribed certificate at the ticket counter and should also be wearing their full military uniform to prove their identity.

Public interest litigation (PIL) was then filed by Lt Alifa Akbar from Chandimandir, challenging the condition of wearing the uniform since military rules prohibit wearing of the uniform when personnel are moving in civilian areas when not on duty.

The PIL also contended that the said condition made the entire provision redundant and impractical. Accepting the submission of the Haryana government, the high court has now asked it to place the amended notification on record.

Punjab and the UT Administration have already issued instructions to all cinema owners to allow entertainment tax exemption to defence personnel on the production of identity cards and a certificate signed by any officer above the rank of JCO.

In Delhi, the process has been further simplified and defence personnel simply need to show their identity cards at the ticket counter to avail themselves of the exemption.

Chandigarh, September 5
West Bengal’s loss may be Haryana’s gain. The Tatas are in touch with the Haryana government at the highest level following Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s statement in the Vidhan Sabha on September 3 that if the automobile giant wanted to relocate their Nano plant in the state, the state government would welcome them.

The Tatas are facing a problem in running their Nano plant at Singur in West Bengal where TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has launched an agitation against allotment of land to them.

Chairman of the Tata Group Ratan Tata is believed to have talked to Hooda on the phone last evening about the Chief Minister’s offer to provide facilities to the Tatas to set up their Nano plant anywhere in Haryana.

Ratan Tata has reportedly told Hooda that he and a senior functionary of his company would get in touch with him after his return from abroad on September 10.

Hooda reportedly told Tata that the doors of Haryana would always be open for any project the Tatas might like to put up in the state. He also told Tata that the details of the facilities the state government could offer for setting up the automobile project could be worked out by senior officers of the company and the state.

It is learnt that the Tatas are seriously considering a proposal to set up another Nano plant outside West Bengal even if the work in the Singur plant resumes. In that case, Haryana can be an option.

Jind, September 5
An undertrial, accused of attempt to murder, was allegedly stabbed by the complainant on the court premises this morning. The assailant has been arrested. The undertrial suffered injuries on his back and hand, and has been shifted to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

The incident took place when the undertrial, Amit, a resident of Sachakhera village in the district, was being produced in the court. It is reported that the complainant, Ashok, a resident of the same village who had been stabbed by Amit on June 5, 2005, after a quarrel and who was present on the spot, took out a knife and allegedly attacked
Amit.

I wanted to make Amit (undertrial) realise the pain and injury suffered by me.— Ashok, complainant- cum- assailant

Ashok reportedly told the police that he attacked Amit to settle an old score with him. He said the village panchayat had been forcing him to settle for a compromise instead of taking the legal path. He said he wanted to make Amit realise the pain and injury suffered by him.

In a similar incident which took place a few metres away from the first one, a youth took out his licensed revolver and threatened to kill a local resident who had filed a case against a kin of the youth for abducting his wife on May 30. The clash took place just outside the office of the SP this morning after both sides confronted each other. Ranbir of Ahulana village in Sonepat district has been arrested for taking out a revolver and threatening to kill.

Chandigarh, September 5
Haryana college lecturers getting the pay scale of Rs 10,000 and above will get Class I status and outstanding college lecturers will be honoured with the State Teacher’s Award from next year. The State Teacher awardees, who were given two increments for five years earlier, will now be given these increments till their retirement and the same facility will also be extended to the National Teacher awardees. They will also get dearness allowance (DA) on these increments.

These announcements were made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the State Teacher’s Award distribution function held at Haryana Raj Bhawan here today where Governor A.R. Kidwai gave away the State Teacher’s Award to 66 teachers. The award comprises Rs 11,000 in cash, a silver medal, a commendation certificate and a shawl.

Congratulating the winners, Kidwai congratulated the state government for introducing a number of new educational programmes such as the semester system, the Eduset system, computer technology, a project-based learning system and new workbooks.

Education minister Mange Ram Gupta said with the introduction of the Midday Meal Scheme up to class VIII, the dropout rate in schools had reduced.

Earlier, Kidwai, Hooda and other dignitaries paid homage to Dr S. Radhakrishnan by lighting a lamp in front of a portrait of the former President on whose birth anniversary, Teacher’s Day is celebrated.

Gurgaon, September 5
An unabated onslaught of dengue has made Gurgaon the worst affected district in the national capital region (NCR), as the positive cases here increased to 374.

The meeting called by union health ministry on September 2 in Delhi to deliberate on the measures to check the increasing incidence of dengue and malaria noted that Gurgaon was the worst-affected district in the NCR. Besides 19 deaths, around 1500 confirmed dengue cases have been reported in these states. Three deaths were reported from Gurgaon alone.

Alarmed over the spread of the disease, the Gurgaon administration and health authorities are resorting to repeated rounds of fogging in the areas where dengue cases are being reported. Besides launching an active awareness campaign on preventive measures, a dedicated helpline for dengue-affected people has also been started.

Also, the deputy commissioner has warned legal action against individuals or groups not cooperating in controlling the incidences of dengue in the district. It is not clear what kind of action will be initiated in this regard as the Municipal Corporation is yet to incorporate bylaws entailing penal action on the pattern of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which has a provision for fine.

Dispelling fear in relation to the legal action, DC Deepti Umashankar said, “Do not take it as some coercive action, but this will be done in case public cooperation is not forthcoming.

We want that people should realise their duty to keep their environs, especially houses, free from any conditions that may facilitate breeding of mosquitoes.”

The administration had recently called a meeting of residents’ welfare associations, NGOs, industrial associations and group housing societies to elicit their cooperation to curb the disease. The administration has also asked the HUDA and the MC to provide 40 workers each to tackle the disease.

Gurgaon, September 5
The police today arrested the daughter-in-law of a retired Colonel, her brother and mother on a charge of hatching a plan for supari killing of her in-laws.

In his complaint lodged at the Palam Vihar police station, Gurgaon, Col Rajiv Goel (retd), a resident of Sector 23, alleged that his daughter-in-law Shilpi had hatched a plan to get him and his wife eliminated by offering Rs 50 lakh to his driver Ashok, who, in an act of loyalty, informed him about this. Following this, the complainant planned a sting operation with the help of his driver to expose his daughter-in-law.

To execute the operation, the complainant asked the driver to continue his contact with Shilpi in this regard so that she did not suspect being exposed. Under the plan, he made an audio and video recording of her conversation with the driver and submitted this evidence to the police in support of his allegation of supari killing against his daughter-in-law.

The driver even accepted Rs 8,000 as advance money from Shilpi under the plan. On the basis of this, the police arrested Shilpi, her brother Sachin and mother Krishna. The accused were produced before a local court, which sent them to jail.

The accused, Shilpi, alleged that she was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case. She counter-alleged that she was tricked into marrying the mentally-disturbed son of the complainant. However, the complainant maintained that the condition of his son was made clear to Shilpi and her family. This was also mentioned clearly in the matrimonial advertisement. So the allegation of keeping her in the dark about this was baseless, added the complainant.

Sirsa, September 5
A woman was beheaded allegedly by her husband in Nejia village in this district in the early hours today.
The police has arrested the husband and recovered the sword used in the crime.

The accused, Durga Parshad, belonged to Charkhi Dadri and had been living in Nejia village for long with his wife Bala (42) and four daughters. Durga Parshad eked out a living by driving an auto-rickshaw, while his wife also worked as labourer to supplement the family income.

The accused was leaving for work at about 4 am today when he had an altercation with Bala over some issue.

He allegedly took out a sword and hit Bala on the neck. Bala died instantly.